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Part 3, Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in On the Road, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom, Travel, and Wandering
Society, Norms, and Counterculture
Friendship
Writing
America
Privilege and Prejudice
Summary
Analysis
Dean and Sal shaved and showered at a local YMCA and then drove around in the Cadillac for a wild night in Chicago. Dean told Sal that they had to “go and never stop going till we get there.” Sal asked where they were going and Dean said he didn’t know, but they just had to go.
Dean and Sal have no real destination in mind, but know that they just have to keep going, moving, traveling.
Themes
They went out and heard a bunch of different jazz musicians perform. Sal describes some of his favorite jazz musicians. They saw a musician named George Shearing, and Dean said that Shearing was God. After their crazy night, Sal and Dean returned the car to its owner, who didn’t even recognize it at first, because it was so dirty and beaten up.
With its improvisation and (in the 1940s) countercultural appeal, jazz is the perfect music for Sal, Dean, and the Beat generation. Dean even continues to find God through jazz performances.
Themes
